Operational Excellence Leader (Lean Improvement)

Rehrig Pacific Company, Inc.; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Rehrig Pacific Company in Detroit is seeking an Operations Excellence Manager to drive scalable improvements across manufacturing and service operations. You will lead Lean initiatives, develop KPI dashboards, and partner with operations leaders to deliver measurable gains in safety, quality, delivery, and cost.

The role requires 5+ years in operations excellence, strong change leadership, and the ability to coach teams in PDCA, A3, and Kaizen.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 5+ years in operations excellence, continuous improvement, manufacturing, service operations, quality, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an operations excellence roadmap, site-level improvement plans, and measurable performance targets based on assigned business priorities.
• Standardize and simplify processes using Lean principles, standard work, visual management, and leader routines.
• Coach leaders and teams to embed continuous improvement practices into daily operations and sustain adoption.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives that increase safety, quality, service, productivity, and cost performance.
• Facilitate Gemba, root cause analysis, kaizen, PDCA, and A3 problem solving; ensure countermeasures have clear owners and due dates.
• Validate benefits, remove barriers, and establish controls that prevent regression.
• Develop and refine KPI dashboards, scorecards, and review routines that create visibility to performance and drive timely action.
• Analyze trends, quantify opportunities, prioritize the improvement pipeline, and communicate progress, risks, and realized value to leadership.
• Align metric definitions, reporting cadence, escalation triggers, and accountability across Operations and support functions.
• Own governance for SOPs, work instructions, standard work, audits, and corrective actions, including approval, version control, implementation, and sustainment.
• Develop practical training, job aids, and facilitation materials; coach teams in Lean tools, KPI interpretation, and disciplined execution.

Skills

Lean

Gemba

Kaizen

PDCA

A3

Standard Work

Root Cause Analysis

Change Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft 365

AI-enabled analytics

Data Visualization

Job description

Rehrig Pacific Company in Detroit is seeking an Operations Excellence Manager to drive scalable improvements across manufacturing and service operations. You will lead Lean initiatives, develop KPI dashboards, and partner with operations leaders to deliver measurable gains in safety, quality, delivery, and cost.

The role requires 5+ years in operations excellence, strong change leadership, and the ability to coach teams in PDCA, A3, and Kaizen.